State institutionalism or individualism

What we have experienced and witnessed has provided the correct answer to the question above dozens of times. We are all witnessing how Turkey has become isolated in the region and the world when there is an insistence on governing through individual whims instead of state institutionalism. We are watching with concern how the country's delicate balances are being disrupted and how it is turning into a regime crisis when the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), the organ of legitimacy for the national will, is effectively sidelined. We are learning through experience that abandoning the rule of law based on the separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches means abandoning democracy.

The heavy price of steps taken without calculating the potential effects on Turkey of the erosion of the unitary structures of Iraq and Syria is before us. Beyond indifferently watching the imperial excavation on both sides of the Turkish building, the bill for a policy that facilitates this will soon be placed before us. We are facing a deadlock into which the country has been dragged by daily politics that is at odds with the founding equation of the Republic, cannot view the world through the objective lens of international relations, fails to see the balance of power, and cannot foresee the potential consequences of the steps taken.

While it is openly stated that after the dismantling of the central structures of Iraq and Syria, it is Iran's turn, and a stick is being brandished not from under the cloak but openly, will we be able to remain outside of the approaching apocalypse? This time, will we be able to return to state institutionalism and state wisdom instead of individual fantasies? Will we be able to show the necessary sensitivity and resistance against imperial projects targeting Turkey? The correct answers to these questions will only gain meaning if we return to the traditional policy established in line with Turkey's founding equation.

In a process where the parceling of the Middle East in line with imperial calculations is being put into practice, it is not possible to govern the country with individual whims that have no basis in the real world. It is imperative to stop governing the state and the country with personal fantasies and return to state institutionalism. A unity to be achieved among political parties, democratic mass organizations, trade unions, and business circles on the common ground of a return to the separation of powers and the rule of law is Turkey's only exit point.

For Turkey to overcome the problems it faces, for the ship of state to be kept afloat without running aground, and for it to emerge from this chaos without shrinking its political geography, achieving the broadest consensus on the common ground of democracy and the rule of law is an inevitable and non-deferrable necessity.

As we conclude our article, let us address the intentions behind phrases frequently voiced in recent days, such as “peace and democracy, stopping the bloodshed.” A share of Turkey's title deed is being demanded, and there is an attempt to make the elimination of the definition of the Turkish Nation and the division into ethnic compartments based on sub-identities a constitutional provision. It must be known that legitimizing the separatist movement, which has been engaged in armed insurrection for years for this purpose, would mean suicide for Turkey.

To those who follow this demagoguery, let us remind them once again that there is no formula for stopping the bloodshed and ensuring peace and brotherhood other than the rule of law and democracy that does not exclude the unitary structure of the nation-state.